1 week in!

We survived the first week of First Grade.  Megan loves it.  Today I was at school volunteering and I was able to take a peek at the work her teacher has put up outside their classroom.   They had a writing activity hanging up where they wrote about the first day of school.  Megan wrote (her spelling here)....

My first day in first grade wus marvlis  bcus  I coud miy  frins on the plagrnwnd. 

Did you get that deciphered... "My first day in first grade was marvelous because I could make friends on the playground."   Love it!

Megan is getting used to the routine of having more homework every night, and she's doing great.  We are so proud of her and the maturity she's shown.  Don't get me wrong - she's still 6.... and I'm reminded of that every day.  She's been having a LOT of headaches lately... they tend to really rear up about the same time I remind her that she needs to clean her room (funny thing, huh).  But I love that she reads me books every night before bed. 

Little Nicole has just come into her own also.  She's a daily reminder that she's 3... we have lots of tears, tantrums, and whining going on.  Somehow though - she always pulls it together and still manages to be an amazing delight.  She's starting in the 3's class in preschool in another week.  It's so weird because we have several friends with birthdays that are just a few months earlier and those babies are starting Pre-K.....  I must say that although it's a pain sometimes that she's the oldest in classes with her fall birthday - I'm also glad that she's got 2 more years of preschool before she heads off to the BIG school!  She's still our little snugglebug and has an imagination that will knock your socks off.

So all is well over here.  I'm hoping to get my blogging act together.  I just got a new computer - but of course I haven't had a whole lot of time to get my files and pictures moved  so I'm floating between 2 computer currently.  But hopefully between the 2 I'll get some updating done soon.

A New School Year

My eldest is off to First Grade!  OH my goodness... how is she that old?  Where did the time go?  Well, instead of sitting around and pondering those unanswerable questions - I'm just embracing this time and watching her spread her wings.

We were super excited last week to go and meet Megan's new teacher.  First grade is such a special grade for me since I taught it for so long - so I was overjoyed when we learned she had the teacher that I had been hoping and praying for - Ms. Forte!  Megan was estatic as well.  And she's super happy to have several friends in her class.  It's going to be a GREAT year!!!!

During our meet and greet, she told Ms. Forte.  "Mrs. Waller was the best kindergarten teacher - but I know you are the best 1st grade teacher."  We have definitely been blessed with amazing teachers! From one teacher to another - they rock!

Here she is - off for the 1st day...

While Megan was at school - Nicole and I had a full day planned.  I have somehow ended up as the PTO president at her preschool so we headed over there to work on a few things - and little Ms. Nicole realized that with her sister gone, she was in charge - that sassy little thing!  

When Mommy finally finished we headed off to her new gymnastics class - which she loves ---- except for when they try to make her flip over.  She hates being upside down.

Finally it was time to go meet the bus.  She loves the bus.... I hate the bus!  So we compromise and we take her in the morning and let her ride home with her neighborhood friends in the afternoon.  She likes that time with friends (although some mean boy tore her school tag today - according to her), and I like knowing that she starts her morning off without any extra drama.  Getting up at 6:15 is drama enough.  Here is her little welcoming committee....

 

I finally got a bus picture on the 2nd day (the 1st day the bus blew past me not realizing I was standing there waiting for it).

And have I mentioned how much I love her teacher.....  Ms. Forte took these awesome pictures on the first day and sent them to all the parents.  So sweet!

 Now 2 days of school are down - and Megan still loves first grade.  Her biggest joy is she's only 3 pennies away from getting to invite a friend to lunch!  Evidently according to Megan, "I'm an exceptional listener."

If that's greek to you....  They have a behavior system where they can earn money throughout the day - and you save up for what you want.  Maybe a trip to the treasure box, maybe inviting a friend to lunch, maybe eating with the teacher, etc...  Megan's saving for an opportunity to invite her friend "J" (who was in her class last year) to lunch. I think this system will be great for Megan - money is definitely her currency of motivation.

AND... I have to brag on our school - because I LOVE IT soooo much!!!!  Today they announced it is one of the Georgia schools of Excellence. Woohoo!  28 schools received this honor - and it was well earned.

The newest family members

They've been with us since June... but they haven't been formally introduced - so without further ado, May I present...
Swimmy and Rosy

 The girls are super excited about their little betta fish friends.

They have begged for fish for a LONG time.... and finally they worked and earned them.  Megan's blue fish is "Swimmy blue"  and Nicole's red fish is "Ruby Red". 

We did have a sad 1st week with Ruby.... let's just say that we've talked a LOT about pets in heaven and now have Ruby Red II.  :^)  About once a week Nicole says something like, "I still miss died Ruby but alive Ruby is happier."

I've adjusted to life with fish - and they are very low maintenance fish - and that makes me as happy as my girls!

summer shout-out

Remember the days when summer meant it was time to take it easy and relax...

Yeah - that was definitely before my 2 amazing blessings!  Because now that means life gets super crazy, fun, hectic, sometimes overwhelming, and always full of joy.

One day I really hope to get caught up with the blog - we've done so many things and been so many places this summer.  So here's a little glimpse of my mermaids - before we hop off for a little beachy fun.

 That is Nicole's little tushy in the water.  She's become quite the swimmer.  She's always loved the water and a little water bug now.  She can actually swim the length of the pool unassisted.  Megan loved to swim too, but I'm not sure she could swim this well at 3 1/2.  It's pretty amazing.  She just loves being under the water.

And Megan - she loves pretending to be a mermaid.  She's taking a few lessons to work on some strokes - but I think she's done with all that.  She told me a few days ago, "you know mom - I don't like to race, I just like to swim so I think I am good enough at freestyle and backstroke - now I'm going to work on mermaid swimming, tea parties and dive sticks in the deep end."  Well there you go - a girl who knows what she wants at the pool. 

Our last trip - even Nicole was begging me to pull her under the water so that we could sit on the bottom of the pool and have a tea party... oh, it's my childhood revisited alright!

This is one of my favorite pictures of Megan in action - working on her backstroke.

Now we are off to have some family fun in the sun.... one day I'm sure you'll get to see those pictures too.  :^)

Uncle Dan is here!

The girls are in heaven.....
Uncle Dan is here!!!!!

The "Do" and what we are doing...

Finally - a look at Nicole's new hair-do.  She got to keep her little ponytail they cut off.  On her they really cut off a lot - it was in the middle of her back.  Now it's her summer cut. 

 I have to admit, it's taken me awhile to get used to it - but it is super cute and sassy!  She keeps telling me she wants her long hair back (to which I remind her that hair grows... but we never cut it with our scissors!).  But then she tells me she likes having hair like mommy.  I do love how easy it is!

Now that summer is officially here, we have been at the pool a LOT!  Megan is swimming up a storm and Nicole is fearless! 

It's been a  great start to the summer! 

Summer smiles

Can you believe it's summer....
Oh I know... it's been a long time since I've posted. 
Sorry.....
So here's a little shot of my cuties!

I love how they both tilted their heads (in different directions).

This was right before they both had several inches of hair cut off.   For some reason I'm having a really hard time getting pictures to upload so maybe tomorrow I'll be able to get the after shots.

For anyone who hasn't heard the story on FB... Nicole was doing some art... (can you see this coming?), and her hair was getting in her eyes... (now are you picturing where this is going), so she cut it.

Oh yeah - suddenly she had bangs.  She actually did a great job - as you can see in the picture above, she actually looks fine - until you look at her from the side and see how far back she cut her new side swept bangs - so we were off to do a little repair.  Now she has a Dora Bob!  Which is super cute on her!  But that's just a tease since I can't get any more pictures to upload....
keep checking back and I promise I'll work on getting pictures up!

April

April was a busy month!

It's hard to believe it's over.  So here are some of our fun moments of the month...

 My pretty girls - getting all dolled up for Church.  Megan's blue dress was super special to her - it was a birthday present from her friend Colton.

With Megan at school - Nicole gets a bit lonely without her playmate.  So we try to have lots of fun outings!  Like a date afternoon at Krispy Kreme!

 And the zoo with friends...

 And it's a super fun day when we get to go have lunch with Megan at school (which is almost every week)...

When the whole family gets to go, it's a really, really awesome outing!

 And the joy when her big sister gets home from school.....

 And when it's Megan's homework time - Nicole wants to join in on the big girl responsibilities too!

 And with all that hard work - you have to celebrate with field day!!!!!

 I love our school and all the opportunities I have to be there - to support the school and to support my sweet girl!

 And then there is the little tyke....  Wow how she is growing!

 We had a few firsts in April....
Megan ate her first hamburger!

 And Nicole realized she loves toast!

 We had our first great day to run and play with all the cousins!

 Then to end off April of 2013, we topped it off with Curriculum Celebration at Megan's school.  What a fun outing - Megan was so excited to show off her first bound book - yep, she's an author!  I LOVE this project the school oversees.... Every child publishes a book (hardbound) every year - so you have a beautiful remembrance from each year - and you can literally watch them grow as authors.  In Kindergarten, the stories are dictated and typed in, then the kids illustrate them.  I helped bind them for our class - but worked hard to NOT see Megan's - I really wanted it to be a surprise for me!  So special!!!!!

 We also got to check out their class Science Fair Project. FYI - Bounty paper towels are the most absorbent/strongest (of Bounty, Kroger, Walmart, and the schools).

 We also got to purchase a piece of her artwork (oops - no picture of that one).

Then to bring the month to a rousing close... we girls headed off to dinner tonight.  Tom's out of town until tomorrow so we had to celebrate all of the girls accomplishments and just wish he were with us.

 

So as I get ready to head off to bed...
Happy Early May Day!!

Happy Easter

Happy Easter from our family to yours!

 

Megan and Nicole proclaimed this the best Easter ever!  I'm betting they'll say the same thing next year.  We had a great time celebrating at church this morning, having an egg hunt with our church family following the service, then home to finish filling our "family eggs" for the big hunt with the cousins!

 The kids were superior egg hunters and I think we've found all 240ish eggs... yeah - we just kept filling eggs.  Who knew we had so many eggs from previous years of egg hunts.  So there were lots of eggs to be found!

 Megan even had to go get a 2nd Easter basket when her's was filled to overflowing.

 And the littlest Miss - we'll, she didn't need a lot of help from her cousins - she was a fierce egg hunter!

This was a super cute Easter with Nicole - she's almost 3 1/2 and is starting to grasp the Easter story.  Last week she was moved "upstairs" at church - so she's in big kid church.  This week her teachers told me they were shocked that she could help retell all the parts of the Resurection story.  That little one is a sponge!  And tomorrow - no school for these girls - it's Spring Break!  So I'm sure we'll find lots of trouble to get into - and I'll try to keep it all posted. :^)

Megan's Heart is a flutter!

Oh yes... something happened as Megan was getting ready to turn 6... she started to figure out boys.  I know, I know - 6 and boys - what's up with that????  Although in reality, I was happy she wasn't one of the girls talking about her "boyfriend" in pre-K.

Well, how did this begin?  Around Valentine's Day, her school had a sweetheart dance - her Daddy escorted her!  But while she was there, he was cut in on by a younger man....

Needless to say, her Daddy's heart about fell out of his body.  But I did assure him that Kaleb is very sweet boy from a great family.  His mom is my co-room mom.  Tom was a bit floored by his awesome manners when he asked to dance with Megan.

But shortly after that she made it clear - that her heart belonged to another.... Colton.
Colton is her best bus buddy - at least that was my definition.  But alas, a mom's understanding of these things is so limited.  Colton, Megan explained, is her very best friend.  According to her, he's so much fun and makes her laugh, and he laughs at her jokes (this is very important) - they have so much fun together that evidently they have begun planning their wedding.

I was pleased to hear that since Colton's mom and her mom live in the same neighborhood, that they were planning on living in a house in the middle so that we could each see them and come babysit whenever we wanted.  Then I got the picture....  no literally - THE picture...

This is Megan, Colton, and in the middle is their daughter....
aaauuuuggghhhh.... talk about your life passing before your eyes!

Oh then it was the fessing up - that Colton kissed her on the bus.  After I inwardly stopped freaking out about that one - it was to find out that it was on the hand - "like a gentleman, mom!"

 But most fairytales have some dilemma, right?  Colton just moved.  Prior to them moving, we had some super fun playdates.  They are the funniest pair - Colton will let Megan drag her around - that picture is of Megan and Colton putting on a dance show for the moms (guess who's idea that was).  But, Colton will also pull Megan around and get her to climb trees and be a little tomboy (which she secretly loves).  I laugh my head off when I watch them play because they get along so well.

In the car a few days ago, Megan told me that Colton was her best friend and then asked, "It is ok to marry your best friend, right?"  I explained to her that she had a LONG time to wait before she could really get married -but that yes, that was the way to do it!  She's determined to wait!  So for the next 20 years we'll be finding fun things to do to meet in the middle.  Thankfully colton and his mom are only an hour north of us.  We already have a playdate scheduled for spring break!

I knew that the day we started school life would seem like it was moving at warp speed... and it is!

Soccer!

Yes... we are still here!
I'm SO far behind on updates and will try desperately to fill in the gaps later.  But since I'm already overwhelmed with how much has happened since the last post... I'll at least start with the present so that I don't miss the current fun times!  And at some point, I'll fill you all in on Christmas, our trip to MN, Trip to SeaWorld and Disney, Megan's birthday... and I'm sure there are lots of other tidbits along the way.

But what are we up to now?  Both the girls started Soccer.  we are playing in an Upwards league at our church.  I love that it is non-competitive, because my girls like to have fun - but let's just say that currently it's a great outlet for friendship and exercise not a future college scholarship training ground.  :^)

Due to rain, tornado warnings, and snow...  We've had 2 practices and no games so far.  And let me just tell you, I'm a bit glad that we haven't had a game yet....  we need a bit more practice.

 

Nicole is also playing this year... that wasn't planned.  Upwards starts when you are 3. I had not planned on her doing it - but several other moms of 3 year olds encouraged me to sign her up.  Well wouldn't you know it... my little baby is the baby of her team.  She happens to be on a team with all 4 year olds.  Evidently several of our 3 year old friends decided not to do it last minute - bummer.  But she seems to be having fun.  I think she'll have fun running around the field and it's great exercise - and she's a cute little mascot.

 

Oh yeah... and she's super excited that she finally got her uniform!  now she's just like her big sister!